High voter turnout expected in Lake, Geauga counties (with video)

Lake County Elections Board Director Scott E. Daisher predicts a turnout of about 76 percent for the county based on similar turnout totals from the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections.

"If we follow course with 76 percent, we'll have roughly 112,000 people voting in the election," Daisher said.

Advertisement

Roberta Halford, the Geauga County Elections Board director, anticipates a turnout of about 80 percent for the county.

"In 2004, it was 77.48 percent, in 2008 it was 78 percent," Halford said. "We just crossed over 15,000 absentees, which makes it 23 percent of our registration already applied for or voted."

Daisher said he thinks absentee voters in Lake county will range between 42,000 to 45,000. On Tuesday, voters will cast their ballots at polling locations.

In 2008, Lake County had about 50,000 requests for absentee ballots with around 44,000 returned, he said.

As of Thursday, about 40,000 had requested to participate either by returning an absentee ballot by mail or by voting in-person absentee at the Elections Board, Daisher said.

"Of course, we have a little less (registered) voters this year, we went from 160,000 in 2008 to 153,000 in 2012, so it's a 7,000 voter difference," he said.

At the Elections Board office in Painesville, there has been a steady flow of voters lining up to cast an in-person absentee ballot or to request one to take home.

"So it's going well, as well as we can with all the different changes and rules," Daisher said. "What I'm hoping people will do is people will see where they are registered and go to the correct polling location on Election Day."

Daisher said voters can visit the Elections Board's website, www.lakeelections.com, to look up their registration and get directions to their polling location.

At the Elections Board in Geauga County, Halford said the number of voters who have come in so far to vote in-person absentee or to request one to take home has come in waves.

"You look out and there is nobody there and five minutes later, it's crowded," Halford said.

She anticipates more than 16,000 people will have voted absentee in the county for this election.

"We're in uncharted territory," Halford said. "We've never had this kind of absentee turnout. We'll take it one day at a time."